Observed meteor last night like never before....

[mbaddah (Mo)]

Hi all,

I was up at the blue mountains last night having an observing session with a friend of mine. Whilst we normally witness a meteor or so every few minutes (and they are always pleasing to the eye), there was one in particular which stood out and wanted to know whether anyone had seen anything similar?

It beemed from the Zenith towards the south, for approaximately 6-7 seconds. The actual rock formation of the meteor could be distinctly seen (looked tremendous approaximately half diamater of the moon) and the tale of the "fireball" was so large and firey that it lit the sky around it with a bright orange glow. It was the most incredible thing I had witnessed with the naked eye.

Please don't think im crazy

[erick (Eric)]

No, not crazy, but quickly edit your post to say meteor and not comet nor meteorite.

[mbaddah (Mo)]

Originally Posted by erick

No, not crazy, but quickly edit your post to say meteor and not comet nor meteorite.

Ahh please forgive my ignorance i have made the correct changes, thankyou for that

[norm]

Hi,

I saw a meteor last night, but not as large or firey, albeit it looked pretty surreal in the sense it travelled for what seemed like forever.

It was approx 50 degrees SE direction starting from Acrux and drifting 60 degrees across. Very bright white, no tail, time approx 22:45pm. Awesome sight.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Wish I could have seen it too.
There is nothing like a good bright fireball.

[erick (Eric)]

A nice fireball seems to come along fairly frequently somewhere in the world. I've only seen one that I recall. I doubt that you would be seeing the actual meteor - but the glow of gas around a bigger piece of rock would have a lot of shape and texture to it. Check on Youtube for fireball videos - they are not just a fine line of light. Eg:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S3WfNDD59Y

[mbaddah (Mo)]

Originally Posted by erick

A nice fireball seems to come along fairly frequently somewhere in the world. I've only seen one that I recall. I doubt that you would be seeing the actual meteor - but the glow of gas around a bigger piece of rock would have a lot of shape and texture to it. Check on Youtube for fireball videos - they are not just a fine line of light. Eg:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S3WfNDD59Y

That's exactly what i saw! Except was even brighter (or possibly the camera just doesn't express it 100%). Beautiful indeed thanks for the link.

[Kevnool (Kev)]

She,s a gooden Eric.
Cheers Kev.

[Newtownian]

I think I can confirm the 'meteor/fireball' seen on Monday night 16th March. I was trialing out my new telescope between about 1030pm and 1230am when it went over. At a guess it was between 11 and 1130pm. The trail was as described lasting several seconds and was yellow orange in color. Our backyard runs approximately west to east and I think the object was pretty much on that course. We dont have much view so I'd estimate it was at an elevation of 60-70 degrees and south of us. This seems to fit with it being seen in the Blue Mts given we are 60 miles west from Katoomba here. The brightness at a guess of the nucleus was comparable to Venus, maybe a little brighter.

The fact it was this visible here should have struck me as surprising I guess.

I dismissed it a bit becausen it sort of seemed 'slow' almost suggesting sky rocket rather than an object reentering the atmosphere.

I have seen fireballs before most notably 35 years ago on the beach at Gerringong at mid winter in perfect sparkling skies. The latter was white in color and the track was very steep - about 45-60 degrees.

Given the track and the different color I cant help wonder if it wasnt a burning up satellite. Any suggestions on how to tell the difference? The track seemed to suggest a shallow slope impact with the atmosphere and the color a gradual burnup.

Newtownian

[Astro78]

Definitely not crazy you lucky buggar!

To see them anywhere is amazing little lone the blue mountains...drool

[mbaddah (Mo)]

Originally Posted by Newtownian

I think I can confirm the 'meteor/fireball' seen on Monday night 16th March. I was trialing out my new telescope between about 1030pm and 1230am when it went over. At a guess it was between 11 and 1130pm. The trail was as described lasting several seconds and was yellow orange in color. Our backyard runs approximately west to east and I think the object was pretty much on that course. We dont have much view so I'd estimate it was at an elevation of 60-70 degrees and south of us. This seems to fit with it being seen in the Blue Mts given we are 60 miles west from Katoomba here. The brightness at a guess of the nucleus was comparable to Venus, maybe a little brighter.

The fact it was this visible here should have struck me as surprising I guess.

I dismissed it a bit becausen it sort of seemed 'slow' almost suggesting sky rocket rather than an object reentering the atmosphere.

I have seen fireballs before most notably 35 years ago on the beach at Gerringong at mid winter in perfect sparkling skies. The latter was white in color and the track was very steep - about 45-60 degrees.

Given the track and the different color I cant help wonder if it wasnt a burning up satellite. Any suggestions on how to tell the difference? The track seemed to suggest a shallow slope impact with the atmosphere and the color a gradual burnup.

Newtownian

Great to hear you had a glimpse of it Newtonian. Indeed it was between 10-11 I would say (i should have logged the time darn it!). Was definitely brighter than Venus, I'd guess almost twice the magnitude of venus!

So it could have been a burning satellite? I hope it wasn't would ruin the surprise

Originally Posted by Astro78

Definitely not crazy you lucky buggar!

To see them anywhere is amazing little lone the blue mountains...drool

lol I feel honoured thanks

[circumpolar (Matt)]

Originally Posted by erick

A nice fireball seems to come along fairly frequently somewhere in the world. I've only seen one that I recall. I doubt that you would be seeing the actual meteor - but the glow of gas around a bigger piece of rock would have a lot of shape and texture to it. Check on Youtube for fireball videos - they are not just a fine line of light. Eg:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S3WfNDD59Y

That Meteor is known as the 'Peekskil Meteor' October 9th 1992. You can many other videos of the exact same event from other areas around the US here.
http://www.meteorites.com.au/films/

As well as some other wicked ones caught on film. There is also a 18 min doco about Sikhote-Alin event.

[Kevnool (Kev)]

I read somewhere that in the usa most meteors get captured on video due to most of there football games are being played every night of the week.

Cheers Kev.